In Belmar, Booker touts Sandy aid

Promises to keep working for full recovery at the Jersey Shore

Aug. 31, 2013

Newark Mayor Cory Booker File photo

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BELMAR — Newark Mayor Cory Booker is making his first barnstorm along the Jersey Shore since clinching the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Booker visited Red Bank, Belmar and Asbury Park on Friday, and is scheduled to be in Long Branch today to meet with Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., for the first time since the mayor defeated the congressman in the special Aug. 13 primary.

In Belmar, the candidate stopped in at several oceanfront businesses, such as Eastern Lines Surf Shop on Ocean Avenue, where superstorm Sandy on Oct. 29 laid waste to the first floor of the store and even cracked a second-floor window. When the water receded, the sand left behind was waist-deep and about $160,000 worth of merchandise was lost. The store opened six months after the storm, after the owners and employees resolved to rebuild on their own.

Watch the video above to see some of Booker’s tour of Belmar.

Booker credited a successful partnership between government and businesses as the reason Belmar has made such a remarkable recovery these past 10 months, and he criticized his Republican opponent, Steve Lonegan, for vilifying government to such an extreme that Lonegan even questioned the amount of federal aid New Jersey received after Sandy as being too much money.

“My opponent in this, actually has said, that we shouldn’t even take Sandy aid,” Booker said. “You talk to the business owners around here and ask them about the importance after a disaster for government to step up.

“When I went to Toms River and other towns, during this (primary) campaign, I talked to a lot of homeowners who still are dealing with very difficult situations,” Booker said. “And so I really want to focus on, should I become a United States senator, what is happening with insurance companies who are dragging their feet in payment? What are other resources we could be getting?”

Belmar Mayor Matthew J. Doherty, a fellow Democrat who supported Pallone in the primary campaign, escorted Booker on his visit through the borough late Friday afternoon. He said Booker understands there is a long-term recovery at the Shore that is going to require the attention of the federal government for years to come.

“It’s great to see him come here and show that he cares and that he’s going to fight for us in Washington, D.C.,” Doherty said. “I think we get a tremendous amount by having him come and see firsthand, and meet with residents, and hear about their experiences — dealing with insurance companies, dealing with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).”

Booker said: “The recovery is still going on, so should I have the privilege of representing the whole state, as a United States senator, I’m going to be in the fields, in the trenches, working with families to see whatever I can do to help support them as they continue to try to recover. That is, honestly, what we want from government, for the leaders that we elected to be there for us when we need them.”